McLean named 2012 Sierra Club Conservationist of the Year for the SCV chapter

Santa Clarita City Councilwoman Marsha McLean was named 2012 Sierra Club Conservationist of the Year for the Santa Clarita Valley Chapter on Monday.

McLean was given the award Aug. 19 for her work preventing Elsmere Canyon from turning into a 190 million-ton landfill, which would have made it the largest dump in the world, according to a news release from the Sierra Club local chapter.

The award is handed out every year to a deserving community member, organizers said.McLean was a leader in the drive to keep the dump out of Elsmere Canyon, some 2,600 acres of untouched land to the east of the Highway 14 freeway near the Newhall Pass.

“I am so proud of Marsha’s 25-plus years of work on this issue,” said Sandra Cattell, Open Space and Wildlands Chair for the Sierra Club Santa Clarita Group. “It has culminated in Elsmere Canyon not only being saved from becoming a dump, but this beautiful canyon is now preserved and annexed into the city of Santa Clarita,” Cattell said. “This is a tremendous victory for everyone.”

“I led the effort to save Elsmere Canyon from becoming a dump in the 1980s because I wanted to protect this beautiful canyon and our community from the devastating effects of a trash dump,” McLean said in a press release. “The legacy we now leave for our families and future generations is significantly different than if the world’s largest landfill had gone into Elsmere Canyon.”

The canyon is a historic passageway between the San Fernando and Santa Clarita Valleys and acts as critical wildlife corridor between the Santa Susana and San Gabriel Mountains.